Information requirements

Pension recipients are required to report the following to us in writing, quoting their OASI number and former employer:

⦁ Any change in their home or payment address 

⦁ Giving up Swiss residence (copy of deregistration as a resident) or returning to live in Switzerland (copy of registration as a resident) 

⦁ Any change that might affect their entitlement to benefits, in particular:

 a. divorce; dissolution of a registered partnership by the court; marriage; registration of a partner-ship; start of a new life partnership; death of their spouse, registered partner, life partner or a child entitled to a child’s or orphan’s pension; interruption or end of full-time education for a child granted benefits after turning 18 

b. any decision by Swiss Federal Disability Insurance, accident or military insurance or any other decision affecting benefits paid by Swiss or foreign social insurance or pension institutions (copy of decision) 

c. any income from employment for recipients of disability or occupational disability benefits. The person entitled to the pension must provide PUBLICA with the relevant documentation (e.g. a salary statement) at the start of the year without being reminded to do so.

Like employers, pension funds are required to deduct tax directly (“at source”) for certain categories of people and forward it to the relevant tax authority.

Withholding tax requirement

The following categories of pension recipients are subject to withholding tax:

• those who draw an annuity or lump sum from pillar 2;
• those who, due to a prior public-law employment relationship, receive their pension from an insurance institution in the canton of Bern;
• those who, at the time of payment, are not living in Switzerland or resident there for tax purposes.

This is determined by the date of deregistration from the previous place of residence.

Tax rate for annuities: the withholding tax rate on annuities from pillar 2 is 10% of the gross benefits.

Lump-sum benefits:

The withholding tax rate on the gross amount of lump-sum benefits as of 1 January 2024 is as follows:

Please notify us of your new place of residence as soon as possible. As the debtor of taxable benefits, PUBLICA is required to forward withholding tax to the tax authorities. We are legally obliged to conduct investigations in order to determine the correct amount of tax to deduct.

PUBLICA does so by periodically checking its pension recipients’ place of residence. If a pension recipient is found to have moved abroad without notifying PUBLICA, that person’s pension will automatically be reduced with immediate effect on a temporary basis. In addition to the monthly withholding tax payable after the change in country of residence is recorded, the amount of withholding tax due for the period between the date of the change and the date it is recorded will also be deducted.

Please note that deliberate or negligent failure to pay withholding tax constitutes tax evasion, which is a criminal offence.

It is therefore especially important to PUBLICA that you notify us whenever you move to a new place of residence outside Switzerland within ten days of moving, including written confirmation from the authorities in your new place of residence.